USA-Taiwan

A bill calling for high-level visits between American and Taiwanese officials was passed by the US House of Representatives yesterday, January 9. HR 535, The Taiwan Travel Act, calls for an end to the self-imposed restrictions on high-level visits between the two countries that have been in place since Washington recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979. The USA has maintained unofficial relations with the Republic of China, the nominal ruler of Taiwan, in the ensuing 39 years, using

Chinese Ambassador to the USA, Minister Li Kexin, has told US lawmakers that proposed visits by US warships to Taiwan would violate the anti-secession law of China, and that the date of the first US warship’s arrival in Kaohsiung Harbor is the day China liberates Taiwan by force. Li told an audience of Chinese students and expatriates invited to a lecture in Washington DC, December 8, that he had made China’s position clear to US legislators after the US Congress

The US Senate Armed Services Committee has passed the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2018, which includes provisions for the reestablishment of regular ports of call by the US Navy at Kaohsiung and other suitable ports in Taiwan. The committee voted unanimously 27-0 to pass the act, according United States Senate Armed Services Committee website. Wall Street Journal and other media outlets are reporting the committee voted 21-6, but agree the bill received bipartisan support. The NDAA